Monday, May 27, 2013

I have been reading the
“Strega Nona” series ever since I was a child and I have enjoyed the
series ever since! Now, I have read the sequel to “Strega Nona,” “Big
Anthony and the Magic Ring” by Tomie dePaola and it is just as hilarious
as the first book! In this tale, Big Anthony gets into big trouble
when he messes with Strega Nona's magic ring in order to have a little
night life! “Big Anthony and the Magic Ring” is an instant treat for
children young and old!

Oh my goodness! I never would have
thought that the sequel to “Strega Nona” would be so hilarious! Tomie
dePaola has done an excellent job at both writing and illustrating this
book and I thought that Tomie dePaola's writing is beyond hilarious! I
always loved the way that Big Anthony always seem so forgetful whenever
he is doing work for Strega Nona, but whenever he comes to discovering
one of Strega Nona's magical objects that might benefit him and he has
to recite a chant to activate the magical object, he can really memorize
those verses! I also loved the way that all the women in the village
square started chasing after Big Anthony once he became “handsome” since
it was so hilarious at seeing Big Anthony being chased by all the women
of the village! I loved the way that Tomie dePaola incorporated
various Italian words and phrases into this story such as “caro” and “un
momento” into this story as it truly gave this story an Italian flare
and it really helped me understand about the Italian language. Tomie
dePaola's illustrations are extremely hilarious and my favorite
illustrations were of Big Anthony turning into a handsome man as he
truly looked like a prince that came out of fairy tales as his brown and
unattractive shoes becomes beautiful tall boots and his mattered blond
hair becomes elegantly combed out.

Overall, “Big Anthony and the
Magic Ring” is a brilliant book for fans of the “Strega Nona” series and
for children who enjoy reading Italian folktales. I would recommend
this book to children ages five and up since smaller children might have
trouble understanding the Italian language used in this book.

Now, to be honest, I had
never read a “Daredevil” comic book
in all my life.The only way I knew
about Daredevil himself was through the movie starring Ben Affleck that I saw
years ago.However, after I saw the
movie, I decided to check out some “Daredevil”
comics and I stumbled upon Frank
Miller’s version of the classic vigilante called “Daredevil: The Man Without Fear!”First of all, this is basically a retelling of Daredevil’s origin story
since Daredevil originated in 1964. Second of all, this is the first “Daredevil” comic I had ever read
about, so imagine my glee at picking this comic up!

What is this story
about?

This story basically explains about how Matt Murdock became
the daring do-gooder, Daredevil! It also shows the relationship between Matt
and his famous boxer father Jack Murdock, Matt’s encounter with the mysterious
Elektra and how Matt tries to save a young girl from the evil forces of the
Kingpin!

What I loved about
this story:

Frank Miller’s writing: I have been reading many of Frank Miller’s works, with his work on “Batman” being the ones I had read the
most, and I had enjoyed his work so far.After I heard that Frank Miller
worked on the retelling for “Daredevil,”
I just had to pick this comic up!I
loved the way that the Frank Miller
made this story have a dark and gritty feel to it, which is reminiscent of his “Batman” comics (though I wonder if
that is where the inspiration came from). I also loved the sort of poetic way
that Frank Miller narrates this
story, as it gave the comic a lot more emotion.One of my favorite passages in this comic involved a brief description
of the winter weather, which went like this:

“It’s outside, everywhere outside.It’s the wind and everything it carries; everything it touches.It charges off the ocean, fierce, bitter
cold.It rattles antennae and shakes
power lines and leaves swirling snow in its wake. It roars down concrete
canyons and brittle branches clatter in combat; surrendering winter leaves that
rustle and skitter like fairies, begging Matt to join the dance. The city that
never sleeps!”

I also loved the character progression for Matt Murdock
himself as he starts learning that he must obey the law while trying to stop
criminals from hurting innocent people and it was done in a natural way that
really suits the story.

John Romita Jr.’s artwork: John
Romita Jr. had done a brilliant job at doing the artwork for this comic as
the characters’ expressions look truly realistic and I also loved the coloring
done on each panel as it made the artwork look even more dramatic.I really loved the way that John Romita Jr. did the shadowing on
the characters’ faces, especially the villains, as it made them look truly
threatening whenever they show up on the panels.

What made me feel
uncomfortable about this story:

The only problem with this comic is that there is some
strong violence where characters are shot and blood just spurts out in pools.Also, there is some language in this comic,
although it is not anything worse than what I usually see in some Vertigo
comics.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Daredevil: The Man Without Fear” is a fantastic read for
anyone who is just getting into the “Daredevil” comics!I would highly recommend this comic to “Daredevil” fans everywhere!

Friday, May 24, 2013

After reading the previous
four volumes of Joe Hill’s highly
acclaimed graphic novel series “Locke
and Key,” I was trying to figure out for the longest time about what the
Locke kids’ father, Rendell Locke, knew about the keys that are located in the
Lovecraft house.Well, let me proudly
say that “Locke and Key: Clockworks” will
reveal everything about the origin of the keys and the main villain himself!

What is this story
about?

Even though Tyler and Kinsey Locke managed to defeat Lucas
“Dodge” Caravaggio in the last volume, it turns out that Lucas now possesses
the body of the youngest Locke child, Bode!Not only that, but Tyler and Kinsey stumbled upon a mysterious key that
would allow the kids to time travel and it was then that they decided to explore
their deceased father’s past.What would
Tyler and Kinsey find and will the revelation destroy them or will it help
prepare them for the battle ahead?

What I loved about
this story:

Joe Hill’s writing: Wow! Joe Hill just continues to amaze me with his dramatic and emotional
writing on the “Locke and Key”
series!Over the course of the series, I
have been wondering about how the Locke kids’ deceased father was connected to
the keys that the kids discovered in the house.So, imagine my delight when I came across a volume that would reveal
everything about Rendell Locke and his connection with the keys! I loved the
way that Joe Hill used the time
travelling aspect of the story to reveal to the audience about how the past
would affect Tyler
and Kinsey and the upcoming battle that they will have to face.I also loved the fact that Joe Hill brought so much emotion in
this volume as I really felt traumatized when I saw how the past events that
happened to Rendell really affected him and his friends for many years.I also loved how all the pieces are coming
together in this volume as there were vague hints about how Lucas ties into the
Locke kids’ father’s past and it was great to see those hints being put to full
circle here.Joe Hill had done a fantastic job at making this volume truly
frightening and intense as I was literally on the edge of my seat whenever the
Locke kids were going on these frightening adventures to discover the truth
about their father.

Gabriel Rodriguez’s artwork: Gabriel
Rodriguez’s artwork as usual, greatly captured the dramatic feel of this
series.I really loved the way that Gabriel Rodriguez illustrated the
characters’ facial expressions as their expressions of being frightened and
angry truly shows in the most effective way!I also loved the way that Gabriel
Rodriguez illustrated the gory scenes of the characters being killed as I
found myself cringing at the murders because of how detailed and gruesome they
are shown.

What made me feel
uncomfortable about this story:

Probably the only issue with this book is the strong
language and the gory violence.Even
though the strong language in this book does not show up as often as in the
previous books, there are still mentions of the “f” and the “s” words littered
in some of the panels.Also, there is
some strong violence in this volume which includes characters having their
heads cut off and blood splattering all over the panels.This might be uncomfortable for anyone who
does not like seeing gore in any graphic novel.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Locke and Key: Clockworks” is definitely what I
would call a “WHAM” volume as everything is finally revealed about each
character and the result is ALARMING!Now that I know everything about the main
villain and the characters’ pasts, I am definitely looking forward to reading
the sixth volume of this series!

I have been reading many Korean folktales over the years,
but “The Sun Girl and the Moon Boy” was
definitely one unique tale that I had just recently read!“The
Sun Girl and the Moon Boy” contains elements of “Little Red Riding Hood” and “The
Wolf and the Seven Little Kids,” except in this version, it is a tiger who
threatens the children of this story!

In this story, when a woman leaves her two children at home
to go to the market, she unfortunately encounters a tiger who wants to eat her
corn cakes.But when the Tiger eats all
of the woman’s cakes, he ends up eating her and putting on her clothes to fool
her children.

After reading other versions of “Little Red Riding Hood” like “Lon
Po Po” which is a Chinese version of the classic story, I was interested in
reading more different versions of “Little
Red Riding Hood.”Imagine my delight
when I finally stumbled upon a Korean version of “Little Red Riding Hood” and this story was just as fantastic as
the other “Little Red Riding Hood”
versions I had read!Yangsook Choi did a fantastic job at
writing this story as the story was both intense and beautiful at the same
time.I loved the way that Yangsook Choi allowed the story to
teach children to be careful of letting strangers into their homes and the
consequences that may come with it.I
think that it made the story even more effective to read through and parents
can easily warn their children about the dangers of letting strangers into
their homes.I also loved the Korean elements
in this story as Yangsook Choi had
an excellent author’s note at the end of this book that explains how this story
was close to her and I always loved the fact that such stories are close to an
author’s heart.Yangsook Choi’s illustrations were just beautiful as the tiger is
drawn so realistically that its presence really brings a threatening atmosphere
to the story. I also loved the way that the illustrations have a glow on each
character and setting as it makes the illustrations so gorgeous and effective
to look at!

Parents should know that a character gets eaten in this
story and the story has an intense atmosphere that might frighten young
children.Also, the ending of this story
might seem a bit unclear for smaller children since not much was clearly stated
about what happened to the characters in the end.Parents might want to read this book before
they show it to their children.

Overall, “The Sun
Girl and the Moon Boy” is a truly fantastic folktale for anyone who loves
reading folktales from Korea.I would recommend this book to children ages
five and up since the scenes with the Tiger threatening the children might
scare smaller children.

“Blueberries for Sal” is a Caldecott Honor Book by Robert McCloskey that is about how Little Sal and Little Bear wandered off from their mothers and ended up with the other’s mother during a day of blueberry picking. “Blueberries for Sal” is a wonderful book that many children will read for many years to come.

Robert McCloskey has done an amazing job at both writing and illustrating this book. Robert McCloskey makes this story extremely cute as it strongly relates to the typical child mix-up scenario that some parents have whenever they go on a shopping expedition with their children and their children wandered off and the parent somehow ends up with someone else’s child. Robert McCloskey’s illustrations are extremely beautiful as the characters look realistic, especially of the images of the bears as they have shiny coats and vivid expressions displayed on their faces whenever they act surprise. Also, the images are mainly in black and white, which gives this book an old fashioned feel to the story, even though this book was actually made during the late 40s.

“Blueberries for Sal” is a brilliant book for children who are huge fans of books that expressed the typical child mix-up escapade and who also love books done by Robert McCloskey. I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Ever since I was little, I have been a huge fan of Shel Silverstein’s works as they were
creative, controversial and hilarious to read through!I have practically read almost all of Shel Silverstein’s works including “Where the Sidewalk Ends,” “A Light in the
Attic,” and “Every Thing On It” and
I had enjoyed every single one of them!Now, I have finally read another one of Shel Silverstein’s books called “Falling Up” and it was just as enjoyable as Shel Silverstein’s other works!

This is another book that has a set of Shel Silverstein’s famous poems and some of the poems featured in
this book include:

FALLING UP

I tripped on my shoelace

And I fell up-

Up to the roof tops,

Up over the town,

Up past the tree tops,

Up over the mountains,

Up where the colors

Blend into the sounds.

But it got me so dizzy

When I looked around,

I got sick to my stomach

And I threw down.

Once again, Shel
Silverstein had piqued my interest in his talent for writing surreal and
hilarious poetry that interest children as well as adults!I loved the wacky style that Shel Silverstein puts into the poems as
the characters are always doing bizarre things such as in the poem “Complainin’ Jack” where a
Jack-in-a-box just complains all day and in the poem “Rotten Convention” where there is a vast array of horrible
characters such as Hamburger Face and Gruesome Grace attending a
convention.I also loved Shel Silverstein’s artwork as it is
mostly in black and white colorings and is truly surreal to look at.Probably my favorite illustrations in this
book was of the image of the pet lion in the poem “Unfair” as it looked incredibly creepy and surreal at the same
time and the characters from the poem “Rotten
Convention” as they look truly frightening and surreal, especially the
image of a man who has a knife going through his head.

Parents should know that like most of Shel Silverstein’s books, there are some poems that might either
frighten children or cause them to perform the crazy stunts that the characters
did in this book.Probably some of the
most suggestive poems in this book would be “Crazy Dream” which involves a child having a dream about torturing
his teachers and that might convince small children to do the same and “Spoiled Brat” where a child is eaten
alive which would frighten small children.Parents should probably read this book before they show it to their
children to see if they can handle the content in this book.

Overall, “Falling Up”
is a truly brilliant book that contains some of Shel Silverstein’s most memorable poems and many adults and
children will definitely enjoy the wacky humor of these poems!I would highly recommend this book to
children ages six and up since there are some suggestive content in this book
that adults might want to discuss with their children about.

I
have been reading William Steig’s works ever since I was little and now
I have just recently read his most heartwarming book yet, “Amos and
Boris.” “Amos and Boris” is a children’s book by William Steig which is
about a small and adventurous mouse named Amos who finds a friend in a
huge whale named Boris when Amos was lost at sea and Boris saves his
life. “Amos and Boris” is truly a beautiful children’s book that will
be an instant favorite among children for many years!

Oh my
goodness! I have to catch my breath here! When I mentioned that this
book is simply breathtaking, it really took my breath away! William
Steig has certainly done an excellent job at both writing and
illustrating this story about the importance of true friendship. What I
loved the most about William Steig’s writing is his ability to use
extremely advanced words but makes those advanced words flow beautifully
with the story and also making the story sound so exotic. I also loved
the theme of friendship in this book as Boris and Amos are truly
inseparable friends as they would do anything to help each other out in
their troubling situations and I loved how Amos and Boris kept on
telling each other that they will never will forget each other, no
matter how different they are from each other. William Steig’s
illustrations are simply beautiful, especially of the images of Amos
sailing out into the ocean and you can see the stars in the sky and a
beautiful view of the blue ocean and the large grey whales sprouting
water from their breathing holes. My favorite images in this book are
of the ones where Amos is seen riding on Boris’s back as they truly look
like the inseparable pair that the book beautifully promotes.

Parents
need to know that this book might be a tad bit too long for smaller
children to handle, so probably the best solution to this problem is if
the parent reads one half of the book on the first day and then read the
second half of the book the next day so that way, smaller children
would be able to keep up an interest in the book.

All in all,
“Amos and Boris” is a true classic that you should not put down and
anyone who wants to learn about the true meaning of friendship can
definitely check this book out! I would recommend this book to children
ages five and up since the length of this book might bore smaller
children.

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Hello! I'm Ronyell and anyone who wants to be my friend is free to become friends with me! Also, I love followers on my blog, since I have so many great things to talk about the various books I read from time to time. I love to read, exercise, sleep and surf on the internet, with reading being my most favorite activity.
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